THE EXPLANATION of Isaiah Chapter 47

(Note: Rev. Smithson's translation of the Isaiah text is appended below the explanation.)

1. COME down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground; there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shalt no longer be called the tender and the delicate.

VERSES 1, 5, 8. The subject here treated of is concerning the profanation of Good and of Truth; for by the "daughter of Babylon" is signified the profanation of Good, and by the "daughter of the Chaldeans" the profanation of Truth. The reason why such things are signified by them is, because they employ the divine Goods and Truths which are in the Word and from the Word as means of bearing rule, whence the Babylonians and Chaldeans regard themselves, or their own dominion, as ends, and the holy things of the church from the Word as means; thus they do not regard the Lord and His dominion as an end, nor their neighbour, and love towards him.

To "come down and sit in the dust, and on the ground", signifies to be in evils and thence in damnation; to "sit in silence" and to "enter into darkness" signifies to be in falsities 'and thence in damnation.

To "sit or dwell in security", denotes to be in confidence that their rule or dominion will remain, and that they shall not perish; "not to sit a widow" and "not to know bereaving or loss of children", signifies not to be in want of attendants, clients, and worshippers.

"There is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shalt no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms", signifies that they shall bear rule no longer, because of their subversion and damnation in the day of the Last Judgment, which is treated of in this chapter. Arcana Coelestia 687.

Verses 1, 2. That by those who "grind meal", when mentioned in the Word, are signified those who within the church are in Truth from the affection of Good, and, in the opposite sense, those who within the church are in Truth from the affection of evil, is evident from Isaiah 47:1, 2:

"Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon", etc.

The "daughter of Babylon" stands for those, with whom the externals appear holy and good, but the interiors profane and evil. (See above, Isaiah 13 and 14, the Exposition.)

The "daughter of the Chaldeans" means those with whom the externals appear holy and true, but the interiors are profane and false.

To "take a millstone" and to "grind meal" signifies to conclude doctrines from Truths which they pervert; for "meal", which is either from wheat or from barley, signifies Truths from Good, and, in the opposite sense, Truths which they pervert for the purpose of seducing others. Arcana Coelestia 4335.

[The correspondence of "grinding meal" may be readily seen, when it is considered that the act of grinding meal is to prepare food for the nourishment of the body; which corresponds to the act of preparing food for the nourishment of the soul, which is done by instructing the mind in the Truths of the Word, and by deriving doctrine therefrom for its spiritual nourishment.]

Verses 1-3. The "daughter of Babylon" is the church, or what professes to be a church, where what is holy is in externals, but what is profane is in the internals. This profanity in the internals consists in this, that they regard themselves and the world as an end, thus dominion and abundance of riches, and the holy things [of the Word and of the church] as means to that end. To "take millstones and grind meal", is to concoct doctrine from such things as can serve, as means, to that end; to "uncover the hair, make bare the leg [or feet], and to "uncover the thigh", is, without shame and fear, to prostitute holy externals and internals; thus" your nakedness shall be revealed", is to cause what is filthy and infernal, which are the ends, to appear. Arcana Coelestia 9960.

2. Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover your locks; make bare the leg; uncover the thigh; pass through the rivers.

Verse 2. Uncover the thigh; pass through the rivers. - These things are said of "Babylon" and of "Chaldea." By "taking the millstones and grinding meal" is signified to produce falsities from evil, and to confirm them by the Word; and by "uncovering the thigh" and by "passing through the rivers" is signified to adulterate Goods by reasonings. Apocalypse Explained 1182.

That the "rivers of Chaldea" signify, in a bad sense, reasonings from fallacies and from false doctrines, also from negative principles respecting the Truths of the Word and of the church, see above, Chapter 8:7, 8, the Exposition.

3. Your nakedness shall be uncovered; even your shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance; and I will not suffer man to intercede.

Verse 3. To be "naked", in a bad sense, signifies to be deprived of the knowledges of Truth and of Good, and to "walk naked" denotes a life without such knowledges as the means [of living], thus a life not spiritual, but merely natural; hence to be "naked" signifies a life without the understanding of Truth, because without the will of Good. Thus when it is said, "Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he, walk naked, and they see his shame" (Revelation 16:15), "not to walk naked" signifies not to be without Truths, and hence without Goods; for they who are without Truths are also without Goods, since all Good is acquired by Truths.

Besides, Good without Truth is not Good, nor is Truth without Good, Truth; in order that it be Truth, it must be conjoined with Good, and in order that Good may be Good, it must be conjoined with Truth. There is indeed a Truth without Good, and a Good without Truth; but Truth without Good is dead, and also Good without Truth, for Truth has its esse from Good, and Good has its existere by Truth.

From this it is evident that by "walking naked" is signified to be without Truths, and hence without Goods.

That to "walk" signifies to be and to live, may be seen in Apocalypse Explained 787. By the "shame of nakedness", (Revelation 16:15) are signified filthy loves. But, in a good sense; to be "naked " signifies to be in innocence and in celestial love, [as was the case with Adam and Eve before the fall, Genesis 2:25.]

To "cover" or to "clothe the naked" signifies to remove, the evils of the will and the falsities of the uuderstanding, thus to instruct those who are in ignorance of Truths, and nevertheless desire them. (See the Exposition of Isaiah Chapter 58:7.) Apocalypse Explained 187, 224, 238, 1008. See also Chapter 20:2-4, the Exposition.

4. Our Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts is His name! the Holy One of Israel!

Verse 4. Jehovah of Hosts. - See Chapter 1:9, 24, the Exposition.

5. Sit you in silence, go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shalt no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms,

Verse 5. By the "daughter of the Chaldeans" is signified the falsification of Truth; and hence by "darkness" are meant the falsities of evil, inasmuch as evil falsifies Truth. Apocalypse Explained 526.

6. I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage; and I gave them up in to your hand: you didst not show mercy unto them; even upon the aged didst you lay very heavily your yoke.

7. And you said, I shall be a mistress for ever: so that you didst not lay these things to your heart, neither didst you remember the end thereof.

Verse 6. As to "anger", when said of the Lord, see Chapter 1:24, 9:12, 17, 21, the Exposition.

8. But hear now this, O you voluptuary, that dwells in security; that says in your heart, I am, and there is none else beside me; I shall not sit a widow; I shall not know the loss of children:

Verses 8, 9. These things also are said concerning " Babylon", and thereby are signIfied the same things as by these words in the Apocalypse:

"I am not a widow, and shall not see mourning; wherefore in one day shall her plagues come to you, death, and mourning, and famine." By "widows", in other parts of the Word, are also signified such of both sexes as are in Good but not in Truth, and yet desire Truth, thus such as are without defence against the false and evil whom however, the Lord defends. They are also understood in the opposite sense, as may be evident from Isaiah 9:17, 10:1, 2; (Jeremiah 15:7-9, 22:3. Apocalypse Explained 1121.

Verses 8-14. I shall not sit a widow; I shall not know the loss of children, etc. - That "sorcerers" [or witches] are those who conjoin the false of .the evil of self-love to the Truths of faith, and thereby perish, is evident from every particular in the above passage, viewed in the internal sense, for they are there described. The extinction of their spiritual life is described by "widowhood " and by "bereavement" [or loss of children]. "Widowhood" is the deprivation of Truth, and thence of Good; "bereavement" is the deprivation of Truth and of Good. The origin of the false, as derived from the evil of self-love is described by these words:

"Your wisdom and your knowledge have seduced you; whilst you have said in thine heart, I am, and there is none beside me"; and the evil itself of self-love is described by these words:

"Behold, they shall be like stubble; the fire shall burn them up: they shall not deliver their soul from the hand of the flame;"fire" and "flame" denote self-love. That the all of spiritual life is extinct, is described by these words:

"Therefore shall evil come upon you, which you shalt not know how to deprecate; and calamity shall fall upon you, which you shalt not be able to expiate." They are called "observers of the heavens, and gazers on the stars, and who know the new moons", [or "prognosticate concerning the months, see note] from being in external things, without an internal principle; for such see from the external man, and nothing from the internal, thus from natural lumen; and nothing from spiritual light; for "heaven", the "stars", and "new moons", in the internal sense are knowledges and scientifics, - in this case, such as are viewed from the world, and not from heaven. Arcana Coelestia 9188.

9. Yet shall these two things come upon you in a moment, in one day; loss of children and widowhood: in their perfection shall they, come upon you; because of the multitude of your sorceries, and of the great abundance of thine enchantments.

Verses 9, 12. Because of the multitude of your sorceries, and of the great abundance of thine enchantments, etc. - In the Revelation 18:23: "By your sorceries were all nations deceived." By "your sorceries" [veneficium, poisoning] are meant the abominable arts and schemes by which they have deluded and persuaded the people to worship and adore themselves instead of the Lord, therefore as the Lord; and inasmuch as the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, as He Himself teaches in Matthew 28:18, consequently as gods. That they have transferred the Lord's divine power to themselves, may be seen above, [Chapter 14, the Exposition], and since this is signified by these words, they also signify that by their abominable arts and contrivances they have turned the minds of men from the holy worship of the Lord, to the profane worship of living and dead men and of idols. That nevertheless there will be an end of these things, and that there is already an end of them in the spiritual world, has been shown in the work on the Last Judgment. This is described in the following words of Isaiah:

"Persist in thine enchantments, O Babylon, and in the multitude of your sorceries", etc. (Isaiah 47:9, 12, 14, 15.) Apocalypse Revealed 800.

By "sorcery", when mentioned in the Word, a similar thing is signified as by incantation [or enchantment], and by "incantation" is understood such a persuasion that a man does not perceive otherwise than that it is so. Such a kind of persuasion exists amongst certain spirits as closes up, as it were, the understanding of another, and suffocates the faculty of perception; and as well-disposed men among the Babylonish nation [Roman Catholics] are induced and persuaded to believe and to do what the monks say, therefore it is here said that they are seduced by "sorcery." Apocalypse Explained 1191.

10. For you have trusted in your wickedness: you have said, None sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge have Reduced you; whilst you have said in your heart, I run, and there is none beside me.

11. Therefore shall, evil come upon you, which you shalt not know how to deprecate; and calamity shall fall upon you, which you shalt not be able to expiate; and destruction shall come upon you suddenly, which you shalt not know.

Verses 10, 11. Your wisdom and your knowledge have seduced you; whilst you have said in your heart, I am, and there is none beside me, etc. - Here also they are described who believe themselves to know all things, and to be intelligent above all others, when yet they know and understand nothing of Truth; wherefore it follows that the understanding of Truth is taken away from them. Their belief that they are more intelligent than all others is understood by these words:

"Your wisdom and your knowledge have seduced you; whilst you have said in your heart, I am, and there is none beside me; and the loss of all understanding of Truth is understood by these words:

"Calamity shall fall upon you, and destruction shall come upon you." Apocalypse Explained 237.

12. Persist now in thine enchantments; and in the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have laboured from your youth; if peradventure you mayest be profited; if you mayest become terrible.

13. You art wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Let them stand up now, and let them save you, - the observers of the heavens, the gazers on the stars, they that prognosticate concerning the months, - from the things that shall come upon you.

Verse 12. As to "enchantments" or "incantations", and the modes in which they were practised in ancient times, see Chapter 3:2, the Exposition.

14. Behold, they shall be like stubble; the fire shall burn them up: they shall not deliver their soul from the hand of the flame; not a coal to warm at, not a fire to sit before it.

Verses 14, 15. By "merchandising" and "trading", in the Word, is signified to procure for one's self spiritual riches, which are the knowledges of Truth and of Goodness; and, in the opposite, the knowledges of what is false and evil, and by these to gain the world, and by the former to gain heaven; wherefore the Lord compared the kingdom of the heavens to "a merchantman seeking goodly pearls." (Matthew 13:45, 46)

By the "merchants of Babylon" no others can be meant than those of the superior and inferior orders in their ecclesiastical hierarchy, because, in Revelation 18:23, it is said that they are "the great men of the earth"; and by the means of her delicacies, through which they have become rich, no other things can be meant than dogmatic tenets, through which, as means, they procure for themselves dominion over the souls of men, and thereby also over their possessions and wealth; that they collect these without any proposed end, and fill their treasuries with them, is a known fact; also that they make a traffic with the holy things of the church, as that by means of offerings and gifts presented to monasteries and to their saints and images, and by means of masses, indulgences, and various dispensations they sell salvation, that is, heaven. Who cannot see that if the Popish dominion had not received a check at the time of the Reformation, they would have amassed together the possessions and riches of all the kingdoms of Europe, and in this case would have been sole lords, and all the rest servants? Have they not derived from former ages, when they had power over emperors and kings, whom they could excommunicate and dethrone if they did not obey them, their principal opulence and annual revenues, which are still immense, together with treasuries full of gold, silver, and jewels? The like barbarous dominion many or them have still at heart, and it is kept within bounds solely by the fear of losing what power they have, if they were to attempt to extend it beyond certain limits. But what use do they make of these vast revenues, treasures, and possessions, except to pamper themselves and gratify their pride, and to confirm their power and dominion to all eternity? From these considerations it may appear what is here signified by the "merchants of the earth", who have become rich through the means of the delicacies of Babylon. Apocalypse Revealed 759.

Verse 14. The fire shall burn them up, etc. - That "fire", in a bad sense, signifies lusts of evil which consume everything Good and True in the mind and in the church, see Chapter 9:17-19, and Chapter 50:11, the Exposition.

Not a coal to warm at, etc. [implies that their lusts of evil will remain ungratified; hence their torment.]

15. Thus shall they be unto you, with whom you have laboured; your merchants, [with whom you have dealt] from your youth: they shall wander everyone to his own quarter; none shall save you.

Verse 15. Every one to his own quarter [or his own way] , denotes that everyone, at the time of judgment, will be reduced to his final state. See the Exposition of Isaiah Chapter 13:14.

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Isaiah Chapter 47

1. COME down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground; there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shalt no longer be called the tender and the delicate.

2. Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover your locks; make bare the leg; uncover the thigh; pass through the rivers.

3. Your nakedness shall be uncovered; even your shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance; and I will not suffer man to intercede.

4. Our Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts is His name! the Holy One of Israel!

5. Sit you in silence, go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shalt no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms,

6. I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage; and I gave them up in to your hand: you didst not show mercy unto them; even upon the aged didst you lay very heavily your yoke.

7. And you said, I shall be a mistress for ever: so that you didst not lay these things to your heart, neither didst you remember the end thereof.

8. But hear now this, O you voluptuary, that dwells in security; that sayest in your heart, I am, and there is none else beside me; I shall not sit a widow; I shall not know the loss of children:

9. Yet shall these two things come upon you in a moment, in one day; loss of children and widowhood: in their perfection shall they, come upon you; because of the multitude of your sorceries, and of the great abundance of thine enchantments.

10. For you have trusted in your wickedness: you have said, None sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge have Reduced you; whilst you have said in your heart, I run, and there is none beside me.

11. Therefore shall, evil come upon you, which you shalt not know how to deprecate; and calamity shall fall upon you, which you shalt not be able to expiate; and destruction shall come upon you suddenly, which you shalt not know.

12. Persist now in thine enchantments; and in the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have laboured from your youth; if peradventure you mayest be profited; if you mayest become terrible.

13. You art wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Let them stand up now, and let them save you, - the observers of the heavens, the gazers on the stars, they that prognosticate concerning the months, - from the things that shall come upon you.

14. Behold, they shall be like stubble; the fire shall burn them up: they shall not deliver their soul from the hand of the flame; not a coal to warm at, not a fire to sit before it.

15. Thus shall they be unto you, with whom you have laboured; your merchants, [with whom you have dealt] from your youth: they shall wander everyone to his own quarter; none shall save you.

9188. 'A sorceress' means those with whom something of the Church has been joined to falsities arising from the evil of self-love. This is clear from the meaning of 'sorceries' as falsities arising from the evil of self-love which have been joined to such things as belong to the Church. There are two things that compose heaven and so compose spiritual life with a person - the truth of faith in the Lord and the good of love to Him. And there are two things that compose hell and so compose spiritual death with a person - the falsity of faith and the evil of self-love. The second two have been joined together with those in hell and constitute the hellish marriage, whereas the first two are joined together with those in heaven and constitute the heavenly marriage. So far as possible the Lord withholds a person from joining truth and good to falsity and evil, since such a joining together is profanation. Even so, a large number of those who belong to the Church cannot be withheld, the reason for this being that from the time they were young children they have absorbed from the Word and from teachings drawn from the Word such things as belong to the Church. Some of these people have embraced them and made them matters of their own faith; and then having reached adult life when they start to think for themselves and not rely on others as they had done previously, they have set no value on those things which have become matters of their faith and instead of them have seized on and also embraced falsities. These are the ones who have within themselves joined truths to falsities; for once truths have become matters of faith they remain and cannot be rooted out, and after that falsities which become matters of faith join themselves to those truths.

[2] This joining together is what is meant in the internal sense by 'sorceries'. The reason why those falsities are falsities arising from the evil of self-love is that all evil wells up chiefly from that love; and when evil wells up, so too does falsity since they cling to each other. From this it is evident that no spiritual life exists with such people because it has been destroyed by falsities arising from evil. To the extent that they have joined those falsities to truths these people have wiped out the spiritual life they have within themselves. And since they have thus become dead instead of living it says 'you shall not keep them alive'.

[3] The fact that this kind of joining together is meant in the Word by 'sorceries' is evident in Isaiah,

You said, ¹ A widow I shall not sit, nor shall I know loss of children. But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day - loss of children and widowhood - on account of the multitude of your sorceries, on account of the extremely great abundance of your magic. You have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, No one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, when you said in your heart, I am, and there is no one else like me. Therefore evil will come upon you, which you will not know how to ward off, and calamity will befall you, which you will not be able to expiate. Devastation will come upon you suddenly, [which] you will not know. Persist now in your magic, and in the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have laboured from your youth. You are wearied with the multitude of your counsels. Let those who search the sky, those who gaze at the stars, and those who know about new moons now stand up and save you from those things that will come upon you. Behold, they have become as stubble, the fire has burned them; they do not save themselves from the power of the flame. ² Isaiah 47:8-14.

[4] 'Sorcerers' are people who join falsities arising from the evil of self-love to the truths of faith, and in so doing perish. This is evident from the details of these verses when seen in the internal sense; for such people are described there. The annihilation of their spiritual life is described by 'widowhood and loss of children', 'widowhood' being the deprivation of truth and of the good resulting from it, and 'loss of children' being the deprivation of truth and good. The origin of falsity - that it arises from the evil of self-love - is described by the following words, 'Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, when you said in your heart, I am, and there is no one else like me'. And the evil itself of self-love is described by 'Behold, they have become as stubble, the fire has burned them; they do not save themselves from the power of the flame', 'the fire' and 'the flame' being self-love. The fact that spiritual life has been completely annihilated is described by 'Evil will come upon you, which you will not be able to ward off, and calamity will befall you, which you will not be able to expiate'. They are called 'those who search the sky, those who gaze at the stars, and those who know about new moons' because they are interested in external things and not in anything internal. Such people see things from the external man's point of view and nothing from the internal man's; thus they see things in inferior, natural light and nothing in superior, spiritual light. For 'the sky', 'the stars', and 'new moons' in the internal sense mean religious and factual knowledge, in this instance when seen from a worldly and not a heavenly point of view.

[5] The fact that 'sorceries' means this kind of falsities is also evident in Micah,

I will cut off the cities of your land and pull down all your fortifications; I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you will have no soothsayers. Micah 5:11-12.

'The cities of your land' are the false teachings of their Church, which are called 'sorceries' because they destroy the truths of faith. In Nahum,

... because of the multitude of the acts of whoredom of a harlot with goodly grace, ³ the mistress of sorceries, the seller of nations in her acts of whoredom, and of families in her sorceries. Nahum 3:4.

'The acts of whoredom' are perversions of truth, 'sorceries' falsities resulting from them. Similarly in the second Book of Kings,

Jehoram said to Jehu, Is all well, ⁴ Jehu? And he said, All well? ⁵ when the harlotries of Jezebel your mother, and her many sorceries are still with us! 2 Kings 9:22.

[6] People are sorcerers when they rely on their own ideas to teach them, and when they trust themselves alone to such an extent that they love themselves and wish to be worshipped as deities. This is also evident from places which openly refer to the Coming of the Lord, who will teach them and cast out sorcerers. For anyone who is going to learn about the truths and forms of the good of faith must rely on the Lord to teach him and not at all on his own ideas. This is why the following is stated in Malachi,

Behold, I am sending My angel, who will prepare the way before me. And suddenly there will come to His temple the Lord whom you seek, and the angel of the covenant in whom you delight. And I will draw near to you to judgement; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against adulterers, and against those who swear falsely. Malachi 3:1, 4, 5.

'The sorcerers' stands for those who rely on their own ideas to teach them and in so doing destroy truths received from the Lord. 'Adulterers' stands for those who destroy forms of good, and 'those who swear falsely' for those who corroborate falsities. The fact that the Lord is the one who will cast them out is self-evident, for it says that 'there will come to His temple the Lord, and the angel of the covenant'.

[7] Also in Moses,

When you come to the land which Jehovah [your] God will give you, there shall not be found among you anyone who makes [his] son or his daughter pass through the fire, practises divination, or enquires of the hells, or is a foreteller of the future, or is a sorcerer, or is an enchanter, or enquires of a familiar spirit, or is a soothsayer, or is one who seeks the dead. For everyone doing these things is an abomination to Jehovah; and because of these abominations Jehovah your God is driving them out before you. Jehovah your God will raise up for you from the midst of you, from your brothers, a Prophet like me; Him you shall obey. Jehovah said in Horeb, I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from the midst of their brothers; and I will put My words in His mouth, that He may speak to them all that I command Him. Therefore it will happen, that a man who does not obey My words which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. Deuteronomy 18:9-19.

[8] 'Practisers of divination', 'foretellers of the future', 'sorcerers', and all the others mentioned here, mean in the internal sense those who destroy the Church's truths and forms of good by a wrong use of factual knowledge (that is, who do so by relying on their own intelligence) and who destroy them by falsities arising from the evils of self-love and love of the world (that is, who are moved to learn and teach by a desire for gain and important positions, not by any affection for the truth of faith or for goodness of life). And since all falsities contained in religious teachings and all evils of life are the outcome of this, these verses speak of a Prophet who is going to come and teach them. The Church knows that this Prophet is the Lord, and Jews and gentiles at that time knew it too, as is evident in Matthew 21:11; Luke 1:76; 7:16; 13:33; Mark 6:4. People are taught by the Lord when they read the Word not for any selfish or worldly reason but for goodness and truth's own sake; for they are enlightened then. But when they read it for a selfish or worldly reason they are blind. 'A prophet' means one who teaches, and in the abstract sense withdrawn from ideas of persons means doctrinal teachings, 2534, 7269, thus the Lord in respect of the Word or Divine Truth.

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